The present invention generally relates to portable beverage dispensers. More particularly, the present invention relates to improved means for cooling bottled beverages in a portable dispenser.
Portable dispensers for water, soda and like beverages are widely known in the prior art. Beverage cooling in the dispensers of the prior art has generally been accomplished by cooling a tank or container housing the beverage. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,149,471 to Boehmer et al. a water cooler is disclosed wherein water disposed in a container is chilled by a thermoelectric assembly. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,310,953 to Rait a portable casing having a thermoelectric cooling assembly attached thereto is provided for receipt of a container of beverage for conductive cooling. A portable dispenser for pressurized kegs of beer and the like is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,354,668 to Cserny wherein a thermoelectric refrigeration unit is provided to cool the interior of a cabinet housing the keg of beer. U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,554 to Trachtenberg et al. discloses a thermoelectric heating and cooling apparatus which selectively raises or lowers the temperature of a conductive plate whereupon food or beverage items are placed.
A particular shortcoming of the aforementioned beverage dispensers of the prior art is the provision of only a single heat transfer wall for removal of heat. Such construction necessitates a longer cooling period to chill a quantity of beverage. It is well known as a basic principle of thermodynamics that the rate of heat transfer is directly proportional to the surface area of the conducting wall. Thus, more efficient cooling can be accomplished by increasing the thermoconductive surface area. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,312,083 to Scoggins et al. a portable home soda fountain is disclosed wherein a cooling coil is wrapped around a beverage tank thereby increasing the conductive surface area. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,468,370 to Castillo a bottled water cooler is disclosed which includes baffling means to direct fluid to the cooling means. While these improvements in cooling means for beverage dispensers enhance cooling efficiency, they do not provide a simple construction for this purpose as disclosed in the present invention.